Father of DNA evidence, Sir Alec Jeffreys, calls for database to be cut

The scientist who discovered genetic fingerprinting today called for a drastic reduction in the DNA database on the 25th anniversary of his breakthrough.

Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, whose discovery revolutionised criminal investigation, said Britain has gone too far in disregarding the rights and privacy of innocent people by collating a huge database of genetic information.

His technique has been used to identify and convict tens of thousands of criminals, including rapists and murderers, but Sir Alec said that a change in the law should be introduced to expunge hundreds of thousands of innocent people from the Home Office list.

“We now have a database that is populated with in the order of 800,000 entirely innocent people which is bigger than the entire database of Germany or France,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

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